Late Night Traditions
by ALoveForWords
Summary: OQ in HP Verse AU. Regina Mills gets paired off with an annoying boy named Robin Locksley who embarrasses her in her first class. He apologizes and they develop a friendship and a very special tradition that reveals their true feelings for each other. But what happens after life at Hogwarts? Kind of slowburn with lots of flashbacks of their time before and after Hogwarts.
1. The Beginning

**Prompt:** Your OTP goes to the Mirror of Erised once a year. Person A sees themselves as the Quidditch Captain, really popular, etc. Person B says they see themselves as head boy/girl with perfect grades. This is all the same until sixth year, where Person A sees Person B kissing them. They (surprisingly) find themselves rather comfortable with this, but doesn't tell Person B. In Seventh Year, the two slowly drift apart due to the stress of NEWTs. Near the end of the year, Person A visits the Mirror just for kicks and still sees themselves kissing Person B. They then notice Person B crying in front of the Mirror. Person B reveals they've seen Person A in the Mirror of Erised since Second Year. They kiss. The mirror's just a plain old mirror for a while.

 **A/N:** I have made slight alterations to the prompt so that it fits perfectly for OQ. You'll get which parts I altered. Hope you like this guys! Need to get back in the writing game, it's been a while! This is unbeta-ed, so all mistakes are mine. R &R, if you can :P (Thanks to OTP Prompts on tumblr for this prompt!)

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1: THE BEGINNING**

They met when they started their first year at Hogwarts, straight off the bat, in Potions class, where they immediately gotten into a sass fight over which ingredients should go into their cauldrons first, while making the first potion they'll ever make as Hogwarts students. She wasn't used to someone being better at her in class and he never backed down from a fight, especially when he knew he was right.

"It's in the bloody book!" he bellows at her. "Or don't you know how to read, Mills?"

"How dare you suggest such a thing?" she yells back. "I _do_ know how to read Locksley! As a matter of fact, I've been reading all our school books before term started."

He simply rolls his eyes at her. Of course he gets paired off with a know-it-all Slytherin on his first class at Hogwarts, that's just how much the universe hates him. They're all know it alls, the whole lot of them! But what's worse with this one is that not only is she a know it all, she strives for perfection. She's that kind of girl who wants perfect grades and sees themselves being a school prefect come fifth year and maybe even head girl when they reach seventh year. She was ambitious, and even though it's irritating, it somehow challenges him. He was never the kind of guy who would engage in verbal brawls with girls like these, but alas, here he was, arguing with all his might to prove he's right.

"Well, if you've been doing the reading Ms. Mills, then you should know that you _are_ in fact wrong." He replies with a smirk on his face.

She is annoyed by that smirk. How could one boy be so annoying and why the hell was she cursed to spend her first class with an insufferable Hufflepuff who thinks he is better than her? They're nothing, Hufflepuffs are the bottom of the Hogwarts food chain, what the hell does this _Robin Locksley_ know? She huffs an annoyed breath and grabs her potions book and rummages for the page where the recipe for the potion they are brewing was. She scans through the page, ready to prove him wrong when she rounds the part they were arguing about and realizes that he was right, she _was_ wrong! Heat starts to creep across her face as she feels embarrassment wash over her rage, when all this time she was in the wrong. She moves her head and moves to look at him, that oh so annoying smirk still on his face.

He raises an eyebrow at her, challenging her to challenge him this time. Not wanting to embarrass herself even further, she just puts the book down and starts adding the ingredients the way he said they should be added and doesn't utter another word to him until the end of the class. She walks out of the room with her fellow Slytherins, all of them telling her that she was right and the Hufflepuff boy had no right to say that she was wrong, people make mistakes and forget key things in potion making. Besides, she made the best potion out of the class, so she bested him anyway. She thanks them and holds her head high, back in all her Slytherin glory and posture, and starts to walk out with her friends back to Slytherin common room so they could rest before their next class, when she hears him call her by name.

"Regina!"

She turns around and raises her eyebrow at him. _Who the hell does this idiot thinks he is? Calling me by a name I don't remember giving to him in the first place?_

He jogs over to where she was standing with her friends, who have been glaring at him since they heard him call her.

"Ladies, can I steal your friend for a moment?" he asks politely, not wanting to earn more ire from them. "I would like the chance to apologize for the way I acted in class today."

Regina's friends look at her, looking for reasons not to leave her with this idiot, but she nods at them and tells them to head back to the common room without her and that she'll see them in History of Magic class. They reluctantly leave her with Robin, whispering among themselves. What they were whispering about, neither Robin nor Regina knew.

Regina turns to look from her friends back to Robin and raises her eyebrows back at him again. "What is it, _thief_?"

"Thief?" he scoffs, placing a hand over his heart in a very exaggerated manner of hurt. "Why do you give me such a nickname milady? I've never stolen anything from you."

"Tell that to the ingredients that kept disappearing from my side of the desk earlier."

Robin blushes at her comment , because he did nick a few of them at a time, just to annoy her. Apparently it didn't go unnoticed.

"So, what is this – " she motions between them. "about? I have class in an hour and would really love to get there without ending up in detention."

"I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted earlier." He begins. "I never meant to embarrass you in front of your friends and the entire class. I just wanted to make a point."

"Which was?"

"That even someone as smart as you could make mistakes." He answers swiftly.

Regina could feel heat rise to her cheeks and she prays to the gods that there isn't a blush visible on her cheeks. Regina Mills doesn't blush. Especially not when it comes from an arrogant idiot like Robin Locksley.

"Uh huh." She says, unsure what to say. "Keep convincing yourself of that. We all know the school hates us Slytherins, even though we're just here to learn like everyone else. It's understandable how a lot of you want to embarrass us in class. It's no big deal. A lot of the older students in Slytherin have told us this last night. It's fine."

"Let me make it up to you then." Robin begins, holding out a hand, gesturing her to take it. "Last night me and a few mates of mine found a secret room here in Hogwarts that contains a mirror that shows you the deepest and most desperate desire of your heart. I think it will show you something you'd love very much."

"Which is?"

"The thing that would make you happy, Regina." He replies. "I haven't known you for very long. But from the ire I got from you in class, I have a feeling you're not that very happy with your life right now."

She was about to yell at him for that comment. He doesn't know her! Why would he assume that? Given that he was right, she didn't want to show him more reason for him to think he was right. So she huffs a frustrated breath and takes his hand as he leads her to the secret room he was speaking of.

He opens the large wooden doors for her to enter and he follows suit and closes the door ever so lightly, making sure no professors or students have seen them sneak into the room.

 _He really must be a professional thief._ Regina thinks to herself at how light his steps were and how great he was at navigating the two of them around the castle without getting caught, a smirk gracing her face.

"Something amusing, Mills?" he asks, seeing the smirk on her face.

"Nothing. It's just – I was right. You _are_ a thief." She laughs for the first time since she met Robin, covering her mouth as it escapes her lips.

"You know, you should really stop calling me that because first, we only just met and second, you don't really know me."

"I could say the same for you, calling me 'Regina' like we're the best of friends." She retorts while rolling her eyes at him.

"Well, I'm sorry if that hurt your feelings _Your Majesty_ ," he sasses at her. "I didn't mean to."

"And you think that calling me 'Your Majesty' doesn't hurt my feelings?" she said, her voice laced with hurt. She didn't know this Robin Locksley, didn't even know why she even joined him in this room right now. And here he was, continuing to treat her the way she didn't want to be treated. To be fair, she was doing the same to him, but what's wrong with that? He started it!

"Ok, I know we've gotten off on the wrong foot here, _Regina_ ," he begins, calling her by her name this time. "And I'm sorry for that. But for some reason, I can't help myself. Apparently I _love_ to annoy you."

She was about to retort, anger almost at it's peak at the audacity of this _boy_ she doesn't even know. But before she can say anything, Robin holds out his hands at her, telling her to let him speak first. "Let me talk first, I promise I have a point."

She rolls her eyes at him. And lets him continue.

"Regina, I know we've only known each other for an hour or so, but I would really love to be your friend. I know it's not common for people from different houses to be friends with each other, more so since you're a slytherin and I'm a hufflpuff, but I would really want to try. I want to change this mentality in our school. That people have to stick to people from their houses when looking for lifelong friends. And what better way to start than by befriending a slytherin?"

She listens to him intently. Finally, someone who understands what she's been trying to argue with her mother and her sister about. In their household, blood was an important thing. The Mills were pureblood wizards and they wanted to keep it that way, or at least Regina's mother and sister wanted to. Regina didn't think the same way they did. She always didn't understand why people should be divided by blood, lineage and more so what house they were sorted in at Hogwarts. They were all magical beings after all, why the need for more division? She argued with her sister the night before heading to Hogwarts about wanting to have friends in all houses if she could, which got her a scolding from her mother before they left platform 9¾ the next morning. That's what was causing all this pent up anger in her. Because she was indeed sorted into Slytherin, and she was happy about that because she always wanted to be a slytherin, but her sister was still not talking to her and she got an owl from her mother that morning reminding her of the repercussions of befriending anyone that wasn't of the same station as her. She didn't like it one bit that everyone was trying to tell her what to do in school, who to befriend and who to make enemies. So she went to her first class very distracted with a hot head, which lead to the events that morning with Robin.

She considers his statement before schooling her features and plastering a smile upon her face before answering, in the most dramatic fake voice she could muster. "Well, a hufflepuff and a slytherin as friends? How ever will we manage?"

He laughs at her antics, which sends her into laughter as well. They both snickered until they were both clutching their stomachs.

"So I guess that's a yes?" he asks.

"Yes."

"Well then, _friend_ ," he begins. "If we are to do this, I think we should have a proper introduction, don't you?"

"I think we should." She smiles, agreeing with him.

He holds out his hand to her. "Hello, I'm Robin Locksley and it's a pleasure to meet you."

She laughs and takes his hand in hers and shakes it and says "Hello there, Robin. I'm Regina, Regina Mills and it's a pleasure to meet you as well."

They laugh again and let go of each others hands, already feeling their friendship kick off from the ground, both now very thankful that they would have a friend who they would be able to talk to without any of the house biases their other friends would have.

"So, where is this mirror you speak of, Locksley?" Regina says, once their laughter dies out. "We do have classes to get to, and I would really love to start History of Magic with a smile on my face."

He grins at her and grabs her hand and leads her to stand in front of the mirror he told her about earlier.

"This is my apology gift as well as my first gift of friendship to you." He says, moving away from the mirror, allowing her to look at herself in the mirror. Her gaze follows him, unsure of what he wanted her to do.

"Wha – ?" she begins, unsure of what the hell she was doing. "Robin, what is this? What am I supposed to be doing?"

"It's called the Mirror of Erised." He explains. "My father kept talking about it as I was growing up and he taught me where they kept it. He told me that it shows you the deepest and most desperate desires of your heart."

"But you said that it'll show me what would make me happy?" she questions.

"That I did." He answers her simply. "But isn't what you want so desperately the thing that makes you the happiest? Isn't the thing that you hide very deep within you the most desperate thing you want because it _makes_ you happy?"

She considers him for a moment. He was right, as always. Ugh, she would have to admit that to him at some point during this "friendship" and she didn't want to because that stupid smirk finds its way to her mind. She didn't want to see that smug smirk any time soon. So instead of warranting him with an answer, she turns from him to face the mirror and stares at it for a while. And then she sees it, the deepest and most desperate desire of her heart. It wasn't that deep, it was kind of selfish actually. But who can blame her? She was 11, what she wanted, what she thought would make her happy now _would be_ shallow.

"So? What do you see?" he asks out of curiosity, filling the silence that has settled between them.

She turns to him and raises an eyebrow at him. "You really think I'm going to tell you? Knowing that if I do, you probably won't even _look_ into the mirror and tell me what _you_ see?" she chuckles at him, mocking him. "You really have a lot to learn about me, Locksley."

"If you'd stop being such a smart arse, I would have told you what I saw last night." He begins. "But since you'd rather keep what you see to yourself, I'll keep mine too."

"Oh, come off it!" she exclaims. "I was just joking, of course I was going to tell you. What are friends for right?"

He smiles at her and waits for her to tell him what she sees in the mirror. He could see a slight hint of embarrassment in her face so he moves to stand beside her and squeeze her hands to reassure her that he won't judge her.

"I know it's stupid, but for now, all I see is getting good grades, becoming prefect one day and maybe even head girl." She says, not meeting his eyes as she was talking, embarrassed that what she wanted most right now is just to be a good student.

"What's stupid about that?" He asks, not understanding why she was so embarrassed about what she saw in the mirror. "Of course you'll see that. It's what you want! Who am I to judge what you see or not see? It's what makes you happy. Be proud of that, Mills!"

She smiles at him, thankful that her new friend didn't judge her, the way she was sure her slytherin friends might have, had they been the ones with her in this room.

"What do _you_ see in the mirror?"

"If you think what you saw was stupid, mine's more stupid, self centered and egotistical." He says to her, trying to hide the embarrassment he was feeling. "So don't judge me, promise Mills?"

"Promise."

"I see myself as the quidditch captain of hufflepuff, in the future of course, because I'm just a first year and we know first years never make house teams." He begins to blab. "But I see myself being the youngest captain hufflepuff ever has, which made me popular in my own house and around the school. I see myself being the reason why we win the quidditch cup every year…"

"Looks like someone has an inflated sense of self worth." She comments.

"Hey! You promised you wouldn't judge!" he exclaims as soon as the comment came out of her mouth.

"I am not." Regina says as she crosses her arms against her chest. "And like you said, it's what would make you happy. Who I am to judge that? It seems that what we both need is validation from people we interact with everyday. You from people who think you're a great quidditch player and me from people who think I'll be the greatest witch of the century."

They stand beside each other in silence, contemplating on what Regina has just said. They both knew she was right, and it was so wrong. It was wrong that they needed the validation from people who barely knew them. But that was the plight of teenagers, they needed people's approval to feel good about themselves, so what makes Robin and Regina any different?

Robin sighs, breaking the silence that has enveloped the room. He turns to look at her and urges her to look at him. She follows suit and he starts to speak.

"Promise me, we'll come to this room every year, the same time and same day we did today, to look into the mirror and see if what we want so desperately has changed from the last year. And it's here that we'll talk about our summers and lives out of school, because who are we kidding, there is no way we'll be able to talk for hours with us being from different houses. Promise me, that every year we'll come here and spend an hour of our time just talking like normal friends would."

She was touched. She has only known Robin for a few hours and he's been more of a friend to her than anyone else has ever been.

"I promise."

They both smile at each other and squeeze each other's hands in comfort. Minutes later, they part ways from the room, off to their next class, both wondering how they'd remain friends despite coming from different houses.

* * *

It has been a year since Robin Locksley has met Regina Mills and in the past year, they've exchanged more notes in class than he has every done in elementary school. During the summer, he has sent her more owls than most of her friends from Hogwarts she had to lie to her mother and tell her it was from her best friend from slytherin house. This wasn't entirely a lie, she did get messages from her best friend, just not one that belonged to same house as her. All Cora Mills knew was that her youngest daughter had a best friend named Robin. She even commented at dinner how could a parent name their daughter using a boy's name, when there were loads more feminine, regal names she could have named her child with. It took everything in Regina not to snicker at her mother's comment, because her best friend, in fact, _was_ a boy.

Across the country, Robin has been talking nonstop about a slytherin girl he met in school, who is smart, sassy, with raven locks and beautiful brown eyes, his mother practically teased him every day of being so "young and in love". He scoffs at his mother's antics and tells her constantly that Regina is just a friend, his best friend, one that he was excited to see again come the new term.

They didn't see each other at King's Cross station or even on the train. Regina was too busy entertaining her slytherin friends and Robin was too busy making his own group of hufflepuff friends laugh at the countless jokes he threw at them. They were both oblivious to what the other was doing during the train ride to Hogwarts, too busy with their other friends but not realizing how much they both were looking forward to being in the room housing the mirror of Erised, to be in the presence of the only other person who understands them deeply.

The caught each other's eyes that evening and exchanged smiles before the headmaster told them to dig in to their dinner. Regina continued to converse with her friends while Robin was doing the same with his. Every now and then she would hear him let out a boisterous laugh that would make her smile and make her restrain herself from laughing along as well, lest she wanted her sister and friends to ask her what she found was funny and she would have to explain how her ears registered the laugh of her best friend from hufflepuff. They went to bed that night, excited for their first classes and the hour after that.

They met up at the room the mirror was housed in, the following day. Lucky for the both of them the headmaster didn't think of moving the blasted mirror to another place, they could continue with this little tradition of theirs.

Much like the year before, Regina goes first and stands in the mirror and looks if what she wanted has changed. Robin follows her and they look at each other and ask the question. Both gave the other the same answer: "Still hasn't changed."

They both end up sighing and sitting at the far corner of the room, leaning against the brick walls of the room as they start to laugh about how their families reacted to the owls they sent each other practically every day.

"I cannot believe you had to lie to your mother about me!" Robin exclaims in mock hurt. "I thought our friendship meant more than that. I've been there for you all year last year! More so than your "friends" from your own house."

"Stop being so dramatic! It was either lie about your gender, or never speaking to you again." She retorts. "It was a no brainer!"

They both laugh at that. And he agreed with her. He would prefer Regina's mother thinking of him as a girl than not speaking to her at all throughout the summer. The thought of not receiving owls from Regina during the summer seemed unbearable, and _very_ boring.

"I wonder what this year has in store for us." Regina wonders out loud.

"I plan on trying out for the team this year." Robin opens up to her proudly. "Get on and make my dreams come true so that maybe next year what I see in the mirror would change, right?"

"I guess so." She says rather sadly. "At least you'll get to change that for yourself. I've been the best student last year in our year yet I still see the same thing that blasted mirror. I don't know if it'll ever change."

"'Gina, don't worry! It will. Soon, don't worry." He puts his arms around her shoulder and squeezes it, hoping that the contact would give comfort to his best friend.

Regina smiles and leans her head against Robin's shoulder. It's funny, the number of nicknames Robin already has for her. Regina, Mills, milady, your majesty, Gina, Reggie (this one she really doesn't like, she scolds him when he uses it) and a couple more she couldn't remember. She only has ever called him Robin, thief and Locksley. Guess there was somebody good at making names in this friendship of theirs. And that someone wasn't her.

They disentangle from each other minutes later, saying their goodbyes to the other before they venture off to meet their fellow housemates before they head off to their next class and the year ahead of them.

* * *

The past year was practically the same for Robin and Regina. Sneaking secret letters to each other in class. It's through those secret letters that Regina found out Robin got accepted to the hufflepuff quidditch team, he was their new keeper. She sent him chocolate frogs the following morning via owl, knowing that her best friend loved them more than Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, with a congratulatory note. That year she secretly rooted for her best friend during quidditch games, even the ones against slytherin.

The summer goes by faster than the last one, what with the constant messages from each other and the excitement to finally get back to school. The constantly talk about what the next school year would hold for them and if this year, they'll see different things in the mirror. That's all both of them ever wanted, because they both wanted to be free of having the need to be validated by the people around them.

They then end up in the same room that year, same time and same tradition. Regina goes first, then Robin. And they just look at each other bitterly and say that they didn't see anything new. They sigh against each other, talk a little more about things best friends do and continue on on their first day of the new school year. They do this every year. Exchange messages during the summer, never seeing each other until the day they had to look in the mirror, sigh at each other because nothing has changed, and head about their day and year as students of Hogwarts.

It was not until sixth year, that something has changed. They both met up at the room housing the Mirror of Erised. Robin urges Regina to go first, but this time she challenges him into going first, because why bother with "ladies first"? So he indulges her in her request and goes first. His frustrated sigh tells her that nothing has changed for him, that he still sees the same thing he used to see in the mirror since they were 11. She was somehow affected by this and reluctantly steps in front of the mirror and looks into it. What she sees shocks her.

Instead of seeing perfect marks and being head girl, she saw herself kissing Robin. Heat rises to her cheeks and she feels herself blush. She doesn't know what comes over her, as a smile finds its on her face.

"What? Regina, what is it?" Robin asks almost immediately. "Do you see something new? Tell me!"

Regina almost forgot that Robin was with her. She quickly schools her features and replies, "No you idiot! It's still the same."

"Then why are you smiling like that?" he asks curiously. "You're smiling like a giddy school girl. If you see yourself with Daniel, you should tell me. He was my friend too. And I understand why you'd see him this year, after what happened to him two years ago."

Robin gives her a sympathetic smile and squeezes her hands, not knowing when he laced their fingers together. Regina's eyes fill with tears as she remembers what her mother did to the first boy she ever loved, how she pointed her wand at him and killed him.

Daniel was a Ravenclaw, the same year as Robin and Regina. They've all became close since their third year when the work load got doubled with all the extra subjects they were required to take. Regina and Daniel met one day at Ancient Runes and became fast friends. It was through Regina that Robin met Daniel, instantly connecting with the boy, who for a boy who loved reading, loved quidditch as much as Robin did. It was with the three of them that a little group started in Hogwarts that was so well known because they were from different houses but were closer to each other than they were with anyone from their own houses. Together their once group of three, grew into a group of seven. Regina, Robin and Daniel made friends with two gryffindors and one more ravenclaw who were the same year as them and one more slytherin who was a year older than them. Mary Margaret, David, Belle and Rumplestiltskin joined their merry little group of three. And together, they became a close knit group.

Daniel and Regina's romance began early in their fourth year when one faithful Saturday, Daniel asked Regina to join him at Hogsmeade for a date. She agreed hesitantly, with much urging from Robin and they've been a couple ever since. Young love as Rumple said. It was during Christmas that year that Regina decided to introduce Daniel to her parents, so excited for them to meet the first boy she ever loved. That night did not turn out as Regina planned, because by the end of the night the mangled body of the boy she loved lay in her arms. All the wizarding world knew was that Daniel died because of a spell that went terribly wrong when his mother was practicing at home. They didn't know the real truth since Cora modified the memories of everyone involved in the incident. Regina went back to Hogwarts heartbroken and it was only thanks to Robin that she was able to grieve Daniel's death properly.

"If I did see him in the mirror Robin, I wouldn't tell you." Regina sniffs, holding back the tears that were threatening to escape her beautiful eyes. "I woudn't want you to think I'm pathetic."

With that, Robin pulls in his best friend for a hug, rubbing her back as her body is wracked by sobs she was trying so hard to stop.

"Regina, still mourning the man you loved isn't pathetic, it's human." he says. "I would completely understand, you know that. I'll always be here for you."

"Thank you, Robin." she says as she pulls away from him, dying her tears and sniffing. "I'm thankful to have a friend like you. Mary Margaret and David try to talk about him, but it's different when I talk about him with you. Thank you."

She gives him a weak smile, one he returns in earnest as they move towards the door to leave. Before they reach it though, Robin tugs at her arm lightly.

"So I was right?" he inquires. "You _did_ see him? You saw Daniel?"

"No. Not even last year." She sighs, her heart breaking. "And it confuses me. Because he did make me extremely happy. And if what you said when we were 11 was right, that this mirror shows us the deepest, most desperate desires of our hearts, then that means even if Daniel did make me happy, he was not what my heart desired. It proves that my desire for my mother to love me and accept me wins. I think the reason why I see myself being head girl and good grades is because I think that those would be enough to make her love me. And I'll continue to hope that it will make her love me. That I would earn her love by being the best witch of our age."

"She loves you Regina," Robin says, comforting her. "She just has a different way of showing it."

With that, he opens up the door for her and turns back to give her a comforting smile. They head out of the room and head to their next classes. Regina felt butterflies her entire walk to Transfiguration, a little guilty that she didn't tell Robin the truth about what she saw today. But she knew it was for the best, he saw her as a friend, as a little sister maybe. What would the point be if she told him she saw her kissing him in the mirror? That would only complicate their friendship, might even add awkwardness to their little group. So Regina keeps her feelings to herself for the entire year, doesn't tell a soul. Doesn't tell anyone that she was starting to fall for one Robin Locksley.

* * *

The next year was entirely different for them. Having been from a family where status mattered, Regina was pressured by her mother to strive for nothing but perfection when it came to her NEWTs. Regina owled Robin less this year compared to the year prior and he barely saw her eat when she was at the great hall the first day back at Hogwarts. She even missed out on their tradition of looking into the mirror of Erised this year.

Robin was hoping that with NEWTs coming up, at least he and Regina would keep their late night library hang outs. But even with NEWTs, Robin never saw Regina at the library. She stuck with her slytherin friends more and barely gave Robin any recognition during classes where Slytherins and Hufflepuffs were together.

Robin never resented or blame Regina for any of that. Because he understood the pressure she was putting herself under. He knew she wanted to strive for perfection and achieve her goals. She was also busy this year because she landed head girl like she saw in the mirror last year and he couldn't be more proud of her, as she was for him the moment he landed quidditch captain only a year after he joined the team. This what was their friendship was like, supporting each other through thick and thin and he'll be damned if he didn't live up to that.

So, Robin left Regina to do what she does best: excel in school. He continued about his life, quidditch, school, NEWTs, friends, etc. There was always the occasional owl to Regina to check up on how she was handling the stress of NEWTs and school work and he'd always get a very enthusiastic answer from her. This was how their year went during their seventh year. But somehow, for both of them, it felt empty that they didn't get the chance to look at the mirror of Erised one last time before the graduated and saw if what they saw changed. So that night, the night after NEWTs, both Robin and Regina decided to visit the mirror of Erised alone, not knowing the other had the exact same plan.

Regina walks the corridors of Hogwarts, checking for any wandering students on her way to the mirror of Erised. As head girl, she had rights to roam the corridors at this hour before heading back ot her common room. She was supposed to check if all students were safe back in their common rooms and tonight was no different, seeing as that arse of a head boy, David Nolan, was no where to be found, she had to do all the work. Lucky for her, the room housing the mirror she was so desperate to pper into was only a few walks away from the SLytherin common room so she could quickly sneak in without being penaltied for wandering the corridors so late at night. She could easily say she was doing her job as head girl and head back to her common room.

She opens the door to the room quietly and checks if anyone was going to join her tonight. Lucky for her, the room was empty and she closed the door quietly behind her. If she was being honest, the very reason she wanted to come was so she could look at Robin's face again. It's been a while since she has seen him, and if she was right and her feelings for him haven't changed, she'll most probably see him in the mirror. At least she would be able to gaze upon his face.

She hopes that tomorrow, Robin would agree to see her, because she has been a really crappy friend lately. She skipped out on their most important tradition, has barely gave him attention this year but the simple notes she sends him as replies to his own. She hopes that her best friend didn't hold any grudges against her. But even if he didn't, Regina won't be able to see him that often anymore, not when she knows that she cannot keep herself from feeling what she feels towards him. She has been trying to squash her feelings for Robin since the day she saw herself kissing him in that mirror last year. But she wasn't able to. It's one of the reasons she missed out on their tradition this year, because she didn't think she can look him dead in the eye and tell him that she still saw the same thing. She didn't think she could hold back from telling Robin what she truly felt for him, that she saw him as more than a friend now. What if he rejected her? What if he told her he only sees her as a friend. She wouldn't be able to talk that kind of pain. So she kept her distance. Tried so hard to restrain herself from the pleas of her best friend to meet him in the forbidden forest. Tried not to think of him when she studied for her NEWTs in the library at a very earlier hour as opposed to the late hours she and Robin used to spend in the library to study. Tried not to let her mind wander to the image of him kissing her senseless, to the image of them finally being a couple. Because as much as she wanted that, she wasn't sure he did.

She releases a sigh she didn't know she was holding and starts to walk towards the mirror, readying herself for what she was going to see. She stands in front of the mirror and waits a while for the image of the most deepest and desperate desire of her heart to show up on the mirror. And as if on cue, it does. There she was facing Robin, their hands intertwined, right before he pulls her in for a kiss. It was chaste, sends butterflies through her stomach and she smiles at the image she sees. She sees him pulling away from her, placing his hands on her cheeks as his thumbs caress the soft skin of her cheeks as he smiles at her. She sees herself laugh the way he was caressing her cheeks and the her in the mirror moves her palm to touch the hand Robin had on her cheek. Regina does the same, mimicking her mirror self, caressing her own cheek, knowing that the image she sees in the mirror will never happen in real life.

A single tear escapes Regina's eye. She doesn't move to catch it, instead she continues to caress her cheek, imagine the feel of Robin's callused hands against it. She closes her eyes and the rest of the tears she was trying to hold back start to fall. She lets out a cry as she voices, "Robin…"

"I miss you."

She hears something clatter. It felt like wood. A wand! She quickly grabs a hold of her wand and points it at the nothingness.

"Who's there?" she says, voice laced with panic. "Show yourself!"

She hears footsteps, they seem to be approaching her, but she sees nothing. She walks backward until her back touches the mirror and stares blankly before her. She sees nothing, but she knows someone was with her in that blasted room. All she need was for the person to reveal himself or herself. Then she feels a breath on her face. The person with her was standing a few inches for her. Instinctively, she reaches out a hand to the nothingness and she feels something solid that was arms length from her. She was sure she was holding a cloak, so she tugs at it. The cloak falls off of the stranger, revealing who it was. Regina's eyes popped out in shock. She did not expect the stranger to be…

"Robin…"

He smiles at her. She notices how he seemed sad, even behind that smile he was giving her.

"What are you doing here?" she asks.

"Apparently the same thing you're doing," he answers. "Gazing upon the mirror we promised we'd visit every year until we graduated."

Regina sees the hurt in his eyes and it guts her. This is exactly why she didn't want to see him, because she knows that no matter how encouraging and lovely Robin has been with her in his notes, he was hurt. And she hurt her, something she never thought she could do to him.

She opens her mouth to apologize, or say something at least, but nothing comes out. She just stares at him, mouth agape, unable to form words to say to the man (not the boy she used to know) she was sure she was in love with.

"What did the mirror show you?" he asks, voice deep, serious. "I know it's not the same thing, Regina. Because if it was, you wouldn't have said my name. You wouldn't have said that you missed me. So tell me Regina, what did it show you?"

A million thoughts raced through Regina's mind at that moment. She wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to tell him that she saw him kissing her, she saw them together as a couple. But what if this ruins everything for them? She wanted her friend back. She has already lost a part of him, she didn't want to lose him even more by revealing this to him.

"I – " she stutters, not really knowing where to begin. She crosses her arms and continues, "Robin, I don't know what to tell you."

"How about the truth, Regina?" he says, more forceful than she liked.

"But I don't want to lose you."

"You're not going to lose me Regina." He says, his hands finding their way to Regina's elbows. "Not even if you tried. I'm still here, am I not?"

He gives her an encouraging smile, a smile she returns. She lets out a sigh before she decides what she was going to do. She moves in closer to Robin, inches closer towards him until she kisses him on the lips. It was a peck on the lips, nothing heated, just a simple kiss, a chaste one, much like the one she saw she shared with him in the mirror.

She pulls away from him, doesn't even look at his reaction as she moves to lower her gaze to the floor. "I saw you kissing me. I've been seeing you kissing me in this damn mirror since last year."

She was still not looking at him, but she continued to rant, not allowing him to say anything. "And I like it. I wished it to become true. But I didn't know if you felt the same way. I chose to stay away this year because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to hide my feelings anymore. And I didn't want to lose you as my friend. Because you're the best damn friend I have ever had. I wish I didn't shut you out this year. I wish I spent more time with you. Relish in your company and the way you make me feel alive. Because this entire year was pure crap Robin. Having to go through NEWTs along was hell for me. If I wasn't such a coward I would have had my best friend beside me through this all instead of hiding away because I can't handle what my feelings for you meant for our friendship."

She knew she was going to die if she looks him in the eyes after everything she has just said, but she decides to do so. She moves her gaze from the floor and looks him dead in the eyes. "I didn't want to lose your friendship because of something I'm sure would pass. So I chose to stay away. But now that we're here together and seeing the stupid image of us in that mirror, it makes me want it more. It makes me want _us_ more."

She couldn't hold on to his gaze anymore. She was stupid. She should have just stayed away. Now she was going to lsoe the only other person who ever made her feel alive because of her stupid declaration of love. A declaration she was pretty sure he would reject. A feeling she was pretty sure she only felt.

She couldn't take it anymore, she could feel the tension in the room. So she moves to leave the cursed room forever, to leave all the memories of this now destroyed friendship in this room. She wanted to leave, wanted to be in the comforts of her own room as she cried out this heartbreak. But before she could leave, she felt strong arms grab hold of her and slam her against the wall adjacent the mirror. Before she knew it, Robin's soft lips were on hers and he was pressing his lips softly against hers. Her eyes flutter shut as she relishes on the feeling of his lips on hers. His soft lips fit her perfectly, like they were made for each other. She was lost in a daze, in his lips, at the way they were moving against hers.

He pulls them apart first. Her eyes snap open as they met his, her eyes filled with lots of questions.

"But I thought…" she begins, unable to fathom what just happened. She couldn't believe that Robin kissed her back. She always thought that this thing she felt was just coming from her and that everything was one sided. But from the way he kissed her, she knew he felt the same way she did.

"I've been seeing the image of me kissing you since we were in our second year, Regina." Robin admits finally after so many years. "I knew we were too young back then, for me to tell you, you might have ran away from me. So I kept it to myself. I lied to you, once. The succeeding years, I've been telling the truth. I've been seeing me kissing you every time I looked into the blasted mirror. And every time we looked into the mirror, I had to resist telling you, or even kissing you. I have loved you since the mere age of 12, Regina. And I have never stopped loving you. I will _never_ stop loving you."

Regina lets out a giggle, a smile finding its way on her face as tears of joy started to pool at her eyelids. Unable to hold back anymore, she threw her arms around Robin and kisses him again, this time with more force and more fervently than before.

He wraps his arms around her petite waste and pulls her closer to him as he continues to kiss her. He traces the outside of lips with his tongue, seeking access, which she immediately grants as she opens her mouth to his. Tongues move against each other, each seeking dominance, while both tasting each other. They've both waited for this for a long time. Maybe on of them longer than the other, but they're finally here. Finally both were ready to admit that the only thing that was ever missing was the other.

Regina pulls away this time, lips swollen from being kissed good and proper by the man she thought was going to remain just a friend after school. Her teeth dig into her lower lip as her eyes trace the contours of his face, from his lips up to his nose and finally resting her eyes in the comfort that were his blue orbs. It is then that she finally sees it. She finally sees the love exuding from Robin's eyes that have been there since their second year. The love that she never noticed until she was ready to admit to herself that she too was in love with this man.

Regina moves to give Robin one last kiss before she rests her right palm against his cheek, feeling the slight stubble that has started to grow there, rubbing her palm against it. "I love you too."

They both giggle, feeling giddy at finally being able to tell the person they loved that they loved them. Tears were pouring from Regina's eyes. She was happy, extremely happy. And it as because of this wonderful man in front of her. She can't believed she waited a year to tell him she loved him. If only she had the courage to admit her feelings out loud a year earlier, they both would have been spared the heartache of being separated from each other for an entire year. If only she felt the way he felt for him sooner, they would have been saved the trouble of having to pretend that the friendship they started wasn't something more. But maybe that's how things were supposed to work, maybe it _was_ all about timing.

And much like the image she kept seeing in the mirror for two years, Robin's palms move to catch the tears springing from her eyes, then finally resting upon her cheek as his thumbs caress the soft skin of her cheek. She smiles, so happy that the image in the mirror was now becoming real life, as she moves her palm to rest above the hand that was caressing her soft skin. Her eyes were drowning in his, as sure as his were drowning in hers.

"I just never thought I'd have this." She says to him, smiling as brilliantly as ever.

"Neither did I." He admits. "But we are here now, and this is true."

* * *

 **A/N 2:** So two author's notes in one fic, sorry! I just wanted everyone to know that this was supposed to be a multichapter but I didn't know if anyone would be interested in reading the adventures of Robin and Regina (plus the gang of course!) in Hogwarts. I wasn't sure if anyone wanted an OQ AU in the Harry Potter universe so I decided to write this oneshot first and ask if you guys wanted one. And if most of you say yes, all I'll do is expand this fic, so the multichapter will be _in_ this verse. So if you think it'll be a good idea, let me know in your reviews! Thanks for reading this btw, it's my longest chapter yet. Review if you can!

 **A/N 3:** So I got reviews saying I should continue and I was only planning to expand this fic, but since some of you said continue, I came up with a little something that would still give you guys Outlaw Queen in the HP Verse but since they're graduating, this won't be set in Hogwarts, but the wizarding world. I edited the part about Daniel so that the next chapters would make sense. I can't wait to share this fic with you. It won't be that long, but I hope it will be at least interesting to read. I enjoy writing this fic so much, you have no idea. Thank you for reading.


	2. What Happened After

**A/N:** I'm back! And so is this story. I know I promised expanding this, but after due consideration (and conceptualizing), I finally decided to just continue it. I don't want to give anything away, but I hope you guys like where I'll be going with this. Just note that I made a few adjustment to the first chapter (which was the oneshot at first) so that this story will make sense. Instead of Robin teasing Regina about Daniel, he was comforting her because Daniel was killed by Cora the same year Regina introduced him to her. I hope it isn't confusing, you can read that part again in the previous chapter since I edited in the change. Thank you for continuing to read this. I'll be moving author's notes to the end of the fic after this chapter. Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** The characters aren't mine (sadly), they are all owned by Once Upon A Time and ABC. As for the spells, quidditch teams, quidditch terms and the universe this is set in, all belongs to the amazing JK Rowling. I own nothing but the mistakes. :)

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2: WHAT HAPPENED AFTER**

 _"But we're here now, and this is true."_

 _Regina smiles brightly at Robin's words as he inches closer, invading her personal space to plant a kiss on her lips. She returns his kiss fervently, opening her mouth as he slides his tongue against hers. A moan escapes from both of them as it fills the room housing the Mirror of Erised._

 _"Really, Regina?" she hears from behind her. "I did not kill the last one to have you end up with someone just like him."_

 _Regina turns to face the voice, shielding Robin with her body, knowing perfectly well who the voice belonged to._

 _"Mother," she breathes out, a hint of fear laced in her voice. She reaches out for Robin behind her, but her hands fall on nothing, nothing but air. She panics and turns to search for Robin. But he's not behind her anymore._

 _She hears gasping. She turns to face her mother again and the sight that met her eyes drained all the blood from her face. The gasps that were filling the room now were Robin's. Tears start to form in her eyes as she watched the man she love being dangled by invisible ropes that come from her mother's wand. He was struggling so hard to free himself from Cora's hold._

 _"Mother, stop!" Regina screams frantically. "He did nothing to you! Leave him alone!"_

 _She hears Cora's signature evil laugh as she lifts her wand higher, Robin along with it, giving Regina a better view of what she doing to the man she loved. Regina tries to find her wand, she needed to save him, she needed to save Robin. But she can't, she can't find her wand and Robin was about to lose the ability to breath. Fat tears fall from her eyes as she looks at her beloved dangling in the air. As Regina looks at the man she loves take his last breath, she turns to look her mother dead in the eyes as evil laughter filled the room and Regina was falling. She was falling into the darkness, a black abyss._

Regina wakes with a start. She sits up almost immediately as she gained consciousness, clinging to her comforter so hard her knuckles turned white. Beads of sweat decorated her forehead as she was panting in her bed.

 _It was just a dream._ She says to calm herself down. _Robin is safe. Mother can never harm him. Not after the deal you made._

Regina flops back down onto her bed, her right hand coming to rest on her sweaty forehead. She breathes a sigh of relief as she realizes that it was all just a dream. Robin was safe. He wasn't in harm's way.

Regina moves to look at her bedside table, which had a digital clock situated on top of it. It was 3:15 AM, too early to be awake. She should try and go back to sleep, she was going to work in a few hours and she really didn't fancy going to work with dark circles under her eyes. So she pulls at the bottommost drawer of her bedside table and retrieves the one thing that can comfort her during nights where she gets nightmares like this one: Robin's quidditch outfit. She calms her breathing and closes her eyes, pulling the piece of fabric closer to her nostrils as she takes in the usual, comforting smell that is Robin Locksley.

Oh how she wished he was here right now. How she wished he was in bed with her, ready to comfort her and chase the bad dreams away. But that wasn't how things were. She was here, alone, only accompanied by her nightmares and fears that her mother wouldn't stick by their deal and leave Robin alone.

But Regina knew she would. He's safe. Robin's safe. There's nothing to worry about. She was sure about that.

* * *

Robin grunts as John Little, his best mate, nudges him awake. Apparently they have finally reached London where the Quiddith World cup is being held this year.

"Bloody hell mate, you could have tried a lighter touch." Robin grumbles as he fixes his mussed up hair. "I was sleeping you know."

"Yeah, yeah. You're always sleeping." John replies at him. "Now get your lazy ass up and outta this train compartment and start walking. The portkey is leaving in a few minutes and I'd hate to miss that trip and wait for another one to leave. I don't want to miss the best bunks just because you prefer sleeping in train compartments."

With that last comment John exits the compartment, brandishing his wand, pointing it to his trunk and muttering a low _wingardium leviosa_ to carry it into the team tent. Robin scoffs at his friend but follows his actions, taking his wand to carry his trunk and following the rest of the team to the location of the portkey.

The portkey wasn't that far away from the train station, lucky for them. When they reached their destination, they were greeted by the Minister of Magic himself, Leopold Blanchard. Flanking him were two house elves, who obviously would be bringing their trunks to where the team will be camping out near the quidditch pitch where the world cup will be held.

"Minister," Robin says as he steps up and offers his hand to the minister. "it is such an honor to have you greet us this fine day."

"No worries Mr. Locksley," Leopold replies with a smile plastered on his face. "Anything for the good of quidditch."

The team chuckles at his sentiments as they gathered their trunks in one place. Leopold turns to instruct the house elves on their tasks and in a blink of an eye they were gone, along with everyone else's luggage.

"Don't worry," Leopold says. "Your trunks are already in the safety of your accomodations, those house elves can be trusted. Now, how about we go and get you boys settled in."

All seven team members nod at their minister and gather around the boot that was going to take them to their destination. The minister counts down the time before the portkey leaves and in no time, the team arrived a few inches away from the pitch. They nod and give their thanks to the minister for seeing that they get the proper care before the world cup, a greeting he returned before her turned and disapparated back to the ministry.

"Well men," Robin says as he turns to face his teammates. "you all know the rules, pick a bunk you're sleeping in and get a little something to eat. We meet at the pitch in an hour for practice, just so we know the lay of the land."

Before anyone could say a word, Robin turns his back on his teammates and grabs his trusted Firebolt as he stalks off to the quidditch field. He needed to clear his head, and the only way he would be able to do it was if he was in his element, flying across the quidditch pitch.

John stares after his friend and promises that he will get whatever the hell his problem is out of him after practice. For now, he'll find them a good bunk and do as he was told. They needed to win this world cup, they've been training for it for years now. He just hopes Robin will be able to concentrate enough to actually help them win this year.

* * *

Regina doesn't wake until three hours later, when a tiny tot was jumping up and down her bed, telling her to wake up.

"Mommy, mommy!" The young boy yelped as he was jumping up and down on his mother's bed, both feet at either side of her waist. "Get up, get up, get up! It's time for you to go to work for the last day before the world cup!"

Regina groans as she turns to lie flat on her back and watches as her son continues to jump up and down before he finally decides on settling against her stomach.

"Henry," Regina says his name with so much love. "how many times have I told you **not** to jump on my bed, on any bed. You could break your neck doing that."

"I'm sorry mommy," Henry apoligizes, his lower lip popping out, making him more adorable than he already was. "I didn't mean to, I'm just so excited that I'm finally old enough to go to the quidditch world cup and watch it for the first time and not just see it as pictures in a book."

"I know sweetie," Regina replies endearingly, loving how much her son is passionate about something this early on. "just promise me you won't do it next time."

"I promise." He says as he holds out his pinky for his mother to loop hers with. She follows suit and kisses his chubby cheeks.

Regina sits up from her bed, grunting as she feels Henry's weight against her middle. "Wow, you're getting heavy. You're becoming a big boy now Henry, soon enough I won't be able to carry you."

Henry giggles at this, he always wanted to grow up and become a big boy so soon. Regina wishes he would just stop growing, she's not ready to lose her little prince any time soon.

"Now go on and wash up as mommy makes you some pancakes for breakfast."

Henry jumps off Regina's lap and walks to the bathroom to do as he was told. Regina watches her son lovingly. Thank god she had one good thing in her life, something that her mother would never be able to harm.

She sighs and throws the covers off her as she stalks over to the kitchen to make Henry's favorite breakfast food. She mixes the pancake batter, takes out the maple syrup from the refridgerator and starts to warm up a non stick pan. She does so all in a wave of her wand, the perks of being a witch. She smirks as she sees different kitchen utensils do their work as she moves to turn the coffee machine on on her own. Making coffee was something she really loved doing without magic.

Henry comes walking in to the kitchen a few minutes later, all dressed and ready for his busy day with Mary Margaret. His mouth hang agape as he watches the show that his mother's magic was putting up in their kitchen. He always knew his mother was a witch. He knew about magic, about Hogwarts, about quidditch, about everything a young wizard should know about his world. Regina never kept his heritage a secret from Henry. But even though that was the case, magic still astounded Henry.

As the non stick pan flips the first pancake over to an incoming plate, knives and forks were flying across the kitchen and preparing the pancakes just the way Henry likes it. Regina hears the coffee maching go off and she moves to get a travel mug out of her cupboard and fills it to the brim with the coffee she just brewed.

"Now, eat up." She instructs her young son. "I am going to take a quick shower so I can drop you off at Mary Margaret's before I head off to work."

With that Regina leaves her son to his pancakes and orange juice.

A few minutes later, she returns all dressed in her robes, ready for work, glad that the kitchen wasn't in a mess considering she left Henry alone in it. Henry however was covered in maple syrup and his t-shirt had splotches of orange juice all over it. Regina shakes her head, she should have known better than leave a six-year old alone in the kitchen.

"Big boys don't get their clothes dirty before leaving the house," Regina says to Henry, pulling out her wand and waving it to clear Henry's face and clothes of the mess he made.

"I tried to stay clean mommy, but I can't help it," Henry replies innocently. "I just love pancakes."

Regina shakes her head at her son and simple chuckles. "C'mon young man, Mary Margaret is waiting."

With that, Henry jumps off the stool he was sitting on and takes his mother's left hand. With a wave of her wand all the dirty dishes head to the sink and are washed and dried. She smiled as the dishes were arranged neatly on the rack and her travel mug zooms her way. She catches the coffee-filled travel mug and turns and leads her son out of their house.

They walk a few blocks towards Mary Margaret's house and ring the doorbell when they arrived. It was Emma who answered the door, the blonde girl look at her aunt Regina and then her friend Henry as soon as she did.

"Hey Aunt Regina, Henry," Emma greets mother and son. "Mom's just getting Neal out of the bath so she asked me to get the door."

"Hi Emma!" Henry greets as he walks past her and into the house.

"Hello Emma," Regina greets, stepping inside as well, closing the door behind her. "Aren't you the big girl these days."

"Yep!" Emma replies proudly. "Mom says I'll be getting my Hogwarts letter soon. I'm really excited to be going this year."

"I bet you are," Regina replies with a nod of her head, bopping Emma's nose in the process. "Henry can never stop talking about going to Hogwarts as well, even though he is too young to."

"How could I not mommy?" Henry interrupts from where he was sitting in the living room. "You and Aunt M keep telling Emma and me all the amazing stories you had when you went there, what kid wouldn't be excited?"

"Don't worry Henry, you'll get your chance." Mary Margaret interrupts as she walks down the stairs of their house, struggling to keep her balance as a newly bathed baby Neal was squirming in her arms.

Regina turns to face her friend, opening her arms waiting for Mary Margaret to step into them. She does so willingly, resting her chin on Regina's shoulders as Regina squeezes her for the both of them.

"Someone's testy today," Regina comments in between the hug as a squirming baby Neal interrupts the women's hug. "did he have a bad night or something?"

"I don't know," Mary Margaret admits in defeat. "I've been trying to calm him down since he woke up crying this morning. I'm pretty sure he's teething now."

Regina takes Neal into her arms, giving Mary Margaret time to rest her tired arms. She turns to her nephew and starts to coo. "That must be painful now, isn't it little man?"

Regina rubs her nose against Neal's, bouncing a little to sooth the cries of the baby. "Did you try the spell I taught you when Emma was teething?"

"I did, I tried everything." Mary Margaret replies. "It's just not working. I don't know, I might bring him to St. Mungo's if he keeps on going like this."

"Don't worry Mary Margaret," Regina says, still bouncing her nephew up and down to calm him. "I'm sure he's fine, maybe just having a bad day."

She hands back the baby to her friend. "I have to go. I need to get in early so that your husband would allow me to leave early this afternoon. Can't miss taking these two youngsters to their first world cup tournament."

The kids give a loud whoop at Regina's comment and the two adults chuckle at their children's excitement.

"Go, I can handle them," Mary Margaret says, urging Regina towards the fireplace, the two kids right behind her. "have a fun day at work. And come back on time. We still need to set up the tent when we get to the site. David can't help, obviously seeing as he's overseeing the security for the world cup, so it's just you and me."

"Will do!" Regina replies enthusiastically. She urges Henry to go to her and as he arrives in front of her, she plants a soft kiss on his chubby cheeks before she nuzzles his nose against hers.

"Be good for Aunt M, ok Henry?"

"Yes mommy."

Regina turns to face the fireplace, steps into it and takes a sufficient amount of floo powder.

"Ministry of Magic." She belows before she releases the floo powder into the fireplace and she's swallowed by green fire. She arrives at the ministry and heads for her office for a busy, but hopefully uneventful day at work.

* * *

Robin steps on the quidditch pitch and admires the view. This pitch was better than the last pitch they used for the last world cup. He breaths in the fresh air, which smelled mostly of freshly mowned grass and paint, before he mounts his trusty firebolt and kicks off from the ground, zooming around the pitch, feeling the cold air against his face.

He dreamed of her again. He dreamed of Regina again. His Regina. He's been dreaming of her for years now and no matter how hard he tried to will himself not to think of her, to dream of her, he still does. It's like his subconscious does not want to let him forget about _her_.

He sighs, tightens his thighs around his broomstick and lets go of it, spreading his arms on either side of his chest as he allows the cold air to wake him up. How he wished she was here. How he wished they were still together. But she wasn't. She left him all those years ago. Broke his heart by throwing back the engagement ring he gave her right to his face. He didn't know what happened, because she was excited to marry him, it was evident in the way she jumped and screamed 'yes' when he asked her, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him as tears ran down her face. She was happy. They were happy. What happened after that faithful day?

Tears stream down Robin's face as he recalls everything that happened between them after Hogwarts. How they moved in together a year into their relationship. How proud he was of her when she told him she got a job as an Auror at the ministry. How happy he was when he came home to a surprise dinner she made for him the moment he got accepted into his quidditch team, the Appleby Arrows. How they lived happily for four years before all hell broke lose. Why? What happened? He wanted to know. But there was no way he was going to find out. Regina made it clear she didn't want to see him anymore, that they were over. She asked him to stay away, to never go looking for her ever again. He tried to look for her the first few years after their break up. But if Regina Mills didn't want to be found, she couldn't be found. So he eventually gave up. But ever since, his heart felt empty, broken, incomplete. She took his heart with her when she walked away from him, and there was only one way for him to get it back. And that was if she came back to him. If she came back to tell him what happened all those years ago. Why she changed her mind, from wanting to marry him to throwing back the engagement ring in his face, in a span of a few hours.

Robin's thoughts were interrupted when he heard Will yell from down below.

"Oy!" Will called at him. "Can our git of a team captain get off his ass and come down and tell us what the hell we're going to be doing this fine, cold afternoon?"

His teammates chuckled at him as Robin zoomed down to meet them. He dismounts his broom and faces his teammates.

"If you'll stop calling me names, maybe I will." Robin sasses back at Will.

Their teammates laughed out louder as they teased Will about not being able to out-sass Robin.

 _Huh. The only person who could out-sass me is no longer with me._ Robin thinks bitterly to himself. He shakes off his bitterness and thoughts of Regina and turns back to his teammates to give them instructions for their drill that afternoon.

"Alright men, this afternoon we're going to do a few drills. Chasers will position themselves at that end of the pitch," Robin says pointing at the far end of the pitch containing the three hoops of the supposedly opposing team. "then they will race their way through the field and get the quaffle through these hoops." he continues on pointing at the hoops towering over them that were supposedly their hoops. "While the chasers are doing this, the beaters have to make sure that none of them get impaled, as I will be releasing the bludgers before I take my position at the hoops. The seeker is to take his position above all the comotion and keep an eye out for the golden snitch. The goal of this drill is different for each player. Chasers must get as many points from simply shooting the quaffle before the seeker catches the snitch. Beaters must make sure that no one gets hurt while the seeker must catch the snitch in the shortest amount of time he can. Got it?"

"What about _you_ captain?" Will calls out from where he was standing. "What is _your_ goal in this drill?"

"I would have thought you'd have that figured out by now," Robin replies, raising his eyebrows at his friend. "Being the fine quidditch player that you are."

The men laugh loudly again at Robin's antics and start ribbing at Will before Robin quiets them down.

" _My_ goal for this drill, Will, is to make sure that most, if not all, of the goals our fine chasers are going to try to make don't get past those three hoops." Robin explains, pointing at the hoops towering over them.

"But how are we supposed to score as many points from shooting the quaffle if you are going to be their blocking our every goal?" Alan A-dale asks from behind Will. "Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the drill for us chasers?"

"Well, after you try to shoot them into the hoops I'm guarding, all three of you," Robin says while pointing at Alan, Much and Arthur. "Would race back to the other side of the field with quaffle and freely shoot there. That way you guys get to at least score some points during this drill"

More ribbing comes from the men as they laugh at how confident Robin is with his skill as keeper. Everyone then nods a few minutes later after the ribbing and laughing died out and starts to take their positions as directed by Robin. Before he flies off to his post, Robin turns to Will and says, "Mate, you have a record to beat. Get that snitch faster than the last time, alright?"

"Are you seriously telling me that, mate?" Will replies smugly. "You know I'm the best."

Will chuckles and flies off to take his position as Robin shakes his head at his smug friend. He kicks off from the ground a few minutes later bringing the quaffle along with him while releasing the bludgers and the golden snitch. Robin throws the quaffle to the center of the field and watches as his teammates start to swarm and do as he instructed.

The afternoon continued that way, the team going through the drill Robin has laid out for them. They finished at dusk, heading back to their tent to barbecue some steaks for dinner. Robin didn't join his teammates, simply shrugged them off when they called him. John would not have it so he told the men to go ahead before them, he's got to have a talk with Robin.

"Mate," John calls out to his friend as he approaches Robin. "the guys are making barbecue for dinner, we need to head back if we want some for ourselves."

"Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I get these back into the chest." Robin replies, gesturing at the four quidditch balls he was trying to fit into the chest.

"You're being ridiculous," John tells him, taking out his wand and giving it a wave, immediately getting all four balls into the chest. "what's wrong Robin? You've been weird ever since we got here."

"I am not being weird," Robin shrugs him off, walking past him to head back to the tent. "I'm just under the weather."

"This is about her, isn't it?" John asks, knowing full well why his best mate was acting weird. "This is about Regina."

"Just leave it be, John." Robin says as he walks away, a little annoyed that his friend can't take a hint. "I'm fine."

"We both know you're not, mate." John calls after him. "But we've been working very hard to get here. The guys have been working so hard so that this year we'll win the world cup. And we both know that we won't be able to do that if you're distracted, if you're not on your game. Robin, you're the best keeper we've ever had, and as much as Will is a great seeker, he cannot get us the win if _you_ can't play the way you've been playing this entire year. We both know that even if Alan, Much and Arthur play their best and get the quaffle between those hoops tomorrow, we won't be able to win if _you're_ off your game and distracted. We're a team Robin and we _work as a team_. And the team won't work if one of it's members is distracted!"

"Don't you think I know that John?!" Robin bellows, turning to face his friend. "I know we've _all_ worked hard to get here. And don't worry, I'll be fine tomorrow. I just need everyone to leave me alone so I can get my game back."

"You still haven't answered my question." John calls out for the last time, his back against Robin's. "This is about Regina, isn't it?"

Why couldn't John just let this all go? Robin sighs in defeat and says, "Yes." Before he walks away towards the tent, preparing himself for another night of dreaming about Regina.

* * *

She was halfway through her paperwork when Mallory Feint, her colleague and a very close friend comes barging into her office.

"Hey Regina," Mal greets her enthusiastically. "Heard you got yourself out of auror duty at the quidditch world cup. Being friends with the head of the auror office does have its perks, doesn't it?"

Regina rolls her eyes at her friend and rebuts, "If you'd be a little nicer to David, he would've given you the day off. But you had to be a little bitch and call him whatever horrific thing you called him this time days before the world cup. This is totally on you."

"Yeah, yeah. If you say so Miss I'm-Friends-With-The-Head-Of-The-Auror-Office."

Regina chuckles at her friend's antics and asks, "So, what did I do to deserve a visit from the infamous dragon lady?"

"Oh haven't you heard? David's put every auror – And yes I mean _every auror_ including yourself – into protection duty for the day." Mal says matter-of-factly. "So if you had plans on going home early, I advise you to cancel all of them. We're heading to the quidditch pitch to add some more protection spells around the area."

"What?! But we did that weeks ago and we used every protection spell known to wizard kind!" Regina whines, thinking of how upset Henry would be once she told him that they won't be heading the to camp grounds today after all, like they planned.

"Well apparently, there was a family of muggles that wandered into one side of the camp grounds, so we have to do another set of protection spells to prevent that from happening tomorrow, when actual wizards will be in the camp grounds. We wouldn't want our world to exposed to them now, after many years, now would we?"

Regina sighs in defeat, knowing fully that her connections with David won't get her anywhere out of this assignment. Looks like she'll have to owl Mary Margaret and ask her to break the sad news to her son.

"What time are we leaving?" Regina asked.

"Now." Mal replied. "David wants this thing dealt with immediately seeing as some wizarding families are already finding their way to the camp grounds. They've also asked us to check the side of the camp where the players are housed. One of the teams apparently is already there so we have to make sure no muggle wanders into that side of the camp."

"Okay, well we better leave now." Regina says, grabbing her cloak and placing it over herself. "It looks like we have a lot to do. Who else is meeting us at the site."

"How would I know? Do I look like the head of the auror office?" Mal says a little bitterly, considering she always wanted to be the head of the auror office.

"You know you'll have to get over your vendetta with David about this whole head of the auror office thing," Regina tells her, while she and Mal exit her office and head to the fireplaces leading to the outside world. They'll have to use the floo network to get them to ministry warehouses where it would be safe to apparate. With the ministry in the middle of London, they wouldn't want any muggle seeing them disappear before their very eyes.

"You're both good at your job, just so happens the ministry chose David instead of you."

"Don't mention those misogynistic assholes to me, Regina."

Regina shakes her head at her friend as they reach the fireplaces. She chose to shut her mouth on the matter because she didn't want to be told of having favorites. Both Mal and David were her friends and she'd be happy for whoever was the head of the auror office.

Regina and Mal approached adjacent fireplaces, stepped into them and took enough floo powder. Both threw the floo powder into the fireplace and bellowed one of the names of the ministry warehouses and before no time they reached it and apparated to the camping grounds.

What meets Regina's eyes wasn't what she expected. A whole lot of aurors were here before they arrived and Regina spotted David a few inches away from Mal and herself. He sees them arriving and he walks over to both women to give them their assignments.

"Regina, Mal. I'm glad you've finally arrived." David greets them warmly. "So, I've dispatched quite a few aurors to the site that has been compromised but none of them could do protection spells better than both of you. So I've called them over and sent them to check on the teams instead. I want the two of you to take Ella and Ursula over there with you. They'll be helping you set up the protection spells and tell you exactly where they spotted the muggles who wandered into the camp grounds. They were on watch when that incident happened."

Both women nodded at David and set off with Ella and Ursula to the compromised site. They performed all the protection spells they knew, from _Muffliato_ to _Protego Maxima, Fianto Duri and Repello Inimicum,_ they did it all.

Once done, they head back to report the status of the area and saw quite a few wizarding families already pitching their tents in preparation for the world cup. Once they spot David and the few aurors left who were assigned to stand watch tonight, they bid their goodbyes.

"Regina, please tell Emma and Henry I'm sorry for delaying their plans on getting to camp ground on time." David calls out to her before she disapparated back to the warehouse.

"I'm sure they'll understand David," Regina replies with a smile. "they know we're protecting the wizarding world from any threat during this great moment in history. I'm sure they'll be proud. Just make sure the tent you assigned to us is pitched and set up when we get here early tomorrow. Mary Margaret and I would lose our wits tomorrow if we come to the site with an unpitched tent. Especially since we'll be with three cranky children."

David chuckles. "Don't worry I'll be pitching it tonight before I head home."

With that Regina apparates back to the warehouse and then back to the ministry using floo powder. She gathers her things from the office and uses the floo network to go to Mary Margaret's and pick up Henry. He'll have to in bed early if he wanted to get into camp early.

When Regina arrives at the Nolans' fireplaces she was immediately greeted by her excited son as he jumps immediately into her arms. She hugs him tightly, glad that their change in plans didn't ruin his mood for the day. They sit and have dinner with the Nolans, with much convincing from Mary Margaret, before the Mills headed home for the night. Henry was washed and clean and in bed so quick, Regina was convinced that her son has been replaced by an imposter.

"Good night my little prince," Regina cooes at her son, who was already fast asleep in her arms. "Sleep tight. Tomorrow will be one heck of a day."

She exits his room after leaving a kiss on his forehead and heads for her own room. She takes a hot bath before she heads back to bed and settles in, thankful that tomorrow she won't have to be Regina Mills the Auror, but Regina Mills the Mom. She's glad she's gonna have time to spend with her son, that she was going to take him to his first quidditch world cup. But all the happiness in the world wasn't able to settle the nagging feeling she had since she woke up this morning. A nagging feeling that something is going to change soon, that something is going to go terribly wrong soon. She just hopes her instincts weren't right. Because she loved her life, she loved her son, she loved how peaceful it was. She would do anything to keep it they ways things are.

* * *

Regina wakes up earlier than expected the next day. She can't remember if she has any more nightmares like the night before, but she wakes up before her alarm goes off. She looks at the digital clock at her bedside table. 3:08 AM, much too early to wake up Henry. She didn't feel like going back to sleep so instead she gets out of bed and prepares some coffee and some bacon and eggs for Henry. With a wave of her wand, the room cleans itself and all that was left was the set table and Henry's breakfast. She finishes her coffee and rinses her coffee mug before heading back upstairs to take a bath before she has to wake up her son.

She lathers up her hair with shampoo and her body with some soap, rinsing out all of the stress from her body, even though she was pretty sure she rinsed all of it away the night before before heading to bed. After her shower, she steps out of the bathroom and wraps her towel around her petite body and heads for her closet, choosing some muggle clothes to wear, considering that they'll be using a portkey to get to the camp grounds instead of just apparating there. The minister of magic made sure that all ministry employees swore to use portkeys and not the warehouses for apparition. They didn't need to attract more attention to their world than they already have.

By the time Regina is dressed and ready to head out, it was 5 AM. She walks into Henry's bedroom and gently nudges him awake.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head," Regina coaxes. "it's time to get up. We need to stop by Aunt M's before we head to the camp grounds."

Henry groans as he buries his head even further into his pillows.

"C'mon Henry." Regina coaxes some more, her fingers finding its way to his sides, starting to tickle him.

Henry wakes up giggling. "Stop, mommy! I'm up, I'm up!"

Regina laughs along with her son before he urges him to take a bath as she goes and adds a few more things into a small bag to which she placed an undetectable extension charm on. She walks into the kitchen and places some food on it for Henry to it when he comes waltzing out of the bedroom after his bath and sits on the table. He eats quietly and announces a few minutes later that he was ready to go.

Regina smiles at her son and instructs him to brush his teeth first before the head to the Aunt M's. They arrive there a few moments later, a sleeping Emma sitting on the couch and Mary Margaret juggling a sleeping baby in one hand and a bag in the other.

Henry jumps on the couch, startling Emma awake as Regina takes the sleeping baby from Mary Margaret's arms.

"All set?" Regina asks her friend.

"Yep." Mary Margaret replies. "David told me to tell you that he knows that you're not working today, but he hopes that if things do go wrong today that he can expect you to help out."

"Oh sure. I've got my trusted wand with me remember?" Regina replies coolly, flashing the wand she had since she was eleven at her friend with a smile.

They chuckle before they gather the children and their bags and head out for the portkey.

They arrive at the camp grounds a few minutes later and found their tent with a label "Mills & Nolan" on it. As promised, David has pitched the tent so all Mary Margaret and Regina had to do was usher two excited kids and crying baby into the tent and settle in.

Regina heads immediately into the kitchen to start preparing lunch for them. The adults agreed on salad while the kids asked for some french fries and chicken. Regina prepares their lunch in peace while Emma and Henry run around their spacious accomodation. Mary Margaret has retired into the nursery (it was astounding that David even had time to set up a nursery in this tent for his son), to calm down Neal and set him down in the crib so she could help Regina with lunch. Once the tot was calmed down, Mary Margaret started making the salad while Regina was frying the chicken and fries for the kids.

Once the food was prepared they all settled and ate their lunch. The children were chatting away excitedly, getting into a small debate on who would be winning the world cup this year. The adults watched their children proudly as they compare which seeker was better, which keeper guarded the hoops better, which chaser shot the most goals and which beater had the best swing. Neither Regina nor Mary Margaret were as passionate about quidditch as their children, but they loved it at one point during the days they were in Hogwarts.

By the time four o'clock came around, the children were dressed in their team's colors and their faces painted as well. Regina took hold of Henry's and Emma's hand while Mary Margaret was craddling baby Neal in her arms. The group head for the quidditch pitch, both kids jumping up and down with excitement. They settled into their seats, seats that were given away to Ministry employees, and listen as the Minister announces the beginning of the match.

Regina wasn't paying much attention to the match, it has been a while since she actually saw a quidditch game. And if she was being honest, she didn't want to know what was going on with the match because she knew that one of the teams playing tonight was the team Robin was playing on. She almost didn't even want to bring Henry to the world cup because of that. But she was busy these days with work, trying to keep the both of them alive that she rarely had any time for her son. So when he asked her to bring him to the quidditch world cup that year she agreed immediately, even though she knew there was a great chance of running into Robin.

So instead of paying attention to the game, she simply watches Henry as his eyes widen at all the different moves the players did on the field. She watches her son look at Emma and how he jumps up and down as his favorite team scores. She observes her son intently, how his face fell when the opposing team scored, and how it would light up when his team scored.

The game ends a few minutes later. Henry's team winning by ten points, the final score being 290-280. Henry whoops and cheers and very subtley rubs his team's victory in Emma's face.

"Henry, don't be mean," Regina says sternly to him. "It could have gone either way. How would you feel if Emma did what you were doing to her to you if your team lost?"

"Sorry mommy," Henry tells Regina. "I didn't mean to."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to sweetheart," she says. "the person you need to apologize to is Emma."

Henry turns to face his childhood friend and says, "I'm sorry Emma. Your team did great too."

"It's alright kid," Emma replies. "I would have done the same thing had my team won."

Emma ruffles Henry's hair and the two run off to their tent with the adults not far behind. They reach the tent a few minutes time and Mary Margaret offers to make dinner this time around. Regina nods at her and volunteers to get the children in clean clothes. She bathes Henry first and Emma goes next.

Once the children have been bathed, the three of them head into the kitchen to the glorious smell of food that Mary Margaret prepared. Emma and Henry help their mothers and set the table before the four of them sit at the table. They were about to eat what they prepared when a very exhausted David Nolan walks in.

"Dad!" Emma exclaims from where she was sitting. She jumps off and runs into her dad's arms, being the daddy's girl that she is. "You're finally home! What did you think of the match? Did you watch the match? Did you see Nottingham do that Sloth Grip Roll* to avoid the bludger John Little aimed at him? It was awesome!"

"Woah there Emma, slow down." David tells his little girl, lifting her into his arms. "Yes, I was at the game but I wasn't paying much attention. Your dad had to keep a lookout for bad guys, remember?"

"You and Aunt Regina have the same job but she wasn't looking out for bad guys." Emma replies with a pout plastered on her face.

"I wasn't working today dear," Regina says before David could say anything. "I had a day off. Something your father can't have because he's the head of our office."

Emma frowns at Regina and her father and then coaxes herself out of her father's arms to go back to the table. Mary Margaret approaches her husband and kisses him.

"Spot of dinner, David?" Regina asks from where she was sitting. "I'm pretty sure you haven't eaten all day."

"Thank you, Regina, I'd love to." David replies with a smile. As he was about to take a seat, a boom came from out of their tent and David stands up abruptly, jostling the table. He catches it before any of the food falls to the floor.

"I'm sorry ladies, but duty calls." He says as he starts to walk towards the entrance of the tent. "Can I have dinner to go, please?"

Mary Margaret heads to the kitchen and whips something up for her husband. She comes back and hands a sandwich to her husband and kisses his cheek.

"Come back home safe, please."

"I promise." David says, a lovestruck smile finding its way to his lips before he gives his wife a final kiss. "Oh and Regina, please wait for a message from me. If the boom was an indication that something has gone terribly wrong, I'll send you a message. I think I'll need every auror present to help out with securing the area."

Regina nods firmly at her friend and watches with weary eyes as he steps out of the tent, off to do his duty.

"I do hope he's wrong and that nothing is wrong," Regina says facing Mary Margaret. "I'm really not in the mood to be an auror today."

Mary Margaret simply chuckles at her friend and turns to continue to eat her dinner along with Regina and the children.

* * *

Robin and his teammates jumped off their broomsticks as soon as Will caught the Snitch. The match was intense, he was pretty convinced they were going to lose, seeing as the opposing team had 290 points simply from shooting quaffles. He knows he promised his teammates that he'll be in shape for today, but he wasn't able to live up to his promise.

The Robin Locksley who used to play quidditch with such skill was absent from the field earlier. Twenty nine goals made by the opposing team just because he wasn't focused enough to block them. He wasn't a total failure though, he blocked a total of ten goals, if his counting was right. But still, he didn't block half as many as the goals the opposing team made.

The entire team crowd around Will as they hoist him up to their shoulders, celebrating their victory because of him. Robin was sure he was going to hear an earful from John after all of this subsides. He's sure that his best mate is going to yell at him for this. He tried his best, he really did. But all his focus had evaporated the moment he started dreaming about Regina. He missed her and the hole she left in him was making itself known again.

He can't celebrate this win with his teammates. He was feeling way too guilty to celebrate. He knew that his teammates don't blame him or anything. But the reminder that they almost lost because of him just reminded him of Regina. He could take the ribbing from his teammates, the teasing that he wasn't the player he used to be. He could take that all. What he couldn't take was the pain he felt whenever he was reminded why he wasn't playing as well as he used to.

So he walks away. Walks away from his friends and their win. He walks away, grateful that no one notices that he takes his leave. He starts to wander further and further away from their tent and towards the grounds where tons of wizarding families were camped out for the world cup.

He walks and walks and remembers the days when his father took him to watch the world cup. He remembers how once he went to one with his father and his friends from Hogwarts. He smiles sadly as he remembers his circle of friends in Hogwarts. David, Mary Margaret, Belle, Rumplestiltskin, Daniel and _Regina_. He sighs. There it is again, the pain. Regina Mills. His best friend, his soulmate, the love of his life. How he wished she was here right now to support him. She was never a fan of quidditch, but for him, she went to quidditch matches. For him, she cheered, and painted her face with the team color of whatever team they were cheering for. For him, she loved quidditch. And he knew, that if they were still together, she would be here right now, painted in pale blue and a silver arrow on her face to show support for his team. She would have done that, he was sure.

* * *

After dinner, Regina clears out the table as Mary Margaret goes to feed baby Neal. The children lounge in the living room of the tent while the adults were scurrying and doing some cleaning.

"Henry! Emma! It's time for bed," Regina calls out to them after she finishes clearing out the kitchen. "Please go and change into your pajamas. Aunt M and I will be there to tuck you both in."

Emma stands and urges Henry to do the same and they head for their rooms, where their clothes were placed.

"Aunt Regina," Emma calls out from their room. "Henry won't get out of his clothes and into his pajamas."

Regina goes walking into the children's room and finds Emma already in her pajamas, but Henry was on the floor playing with his action figures, not in his pajamas.

"Henry, it's time to change," Regina says to her son. "It's late and you should be in bed, we're going to be heading home tomorrow before lunch. Which means you have to be up early. And you won't be up early if you sleep late."

"But mommy, I am way too excited!" Henry exclaims excitedly at his mother. "The Appleby Arrows won this year's world cup! After years of losing, they finally won mommy!"

"I know sweetie," Regina says sweetly to her son, ignoring the slight stabbing pain she felt when she heard the name of the team she knew by heart. "and I am very happy for you _and_ your team. But you really need to go to bed, it's late."

"No!" Henry exclaims defiantly. He gets up from where he was sitting and starts to run away from the room, away from his mother. "Catch me mommy!"

Regina shakes her head, unable to believe that of all the times her son could start being playful, he chooses to be when it's a little late. "You better run fast young man, I'm coming for you!"

Regina winks at Emma, instructs her to stay here and wait for her mom to get her into bed. She then stands and begins to run after her son. She almost bumps into Mary Margaret, who was on her way to tuck her daughter into bed.

"Regina, wha – ?" Mary Margaret starts to ask when she almost fell from being bumped by Regina.

"No time to talk Mary Margaret," Regina says hastily. "my son chose to be playful now of all days, and I need to catch him before he gets lost outside. Your daughter is waiting to be tucked in. Kiss her good night for me."

Before Regina could hear Mary Margaret's 'okay', she was off, running after he son. They cover the insides of the tent first. Henry runs around the kitchen, hides behind the dinner table before he runs into the living room. Regina follows his path around the tent.

"Henry, I'm going to catch you." She teases as she follows him throughout the tent.

She hears Henry's giggle and finds out that he was hiding behind the cupboard near the sofa in the living room. She runs towards the cupboard and looks behind it, but no Henry.

"Mommy, I'm here." Henry calls for her and she looks up to find her son by the entrance of the tent.

"Henry, don't you dare." Regina warns her son, a very stern look plastered on her face. "I do not want to chase you around the camp grounds tonight Henry. I could lose you."

A mischievous look crosses Henry's face as he turns and runs out of the tent. Horror finds its way through Regina's face as she scrambles forward, taking huge steps toward the tent entrance. She needs to catch up with him before he ends up lost.

Henry steps out of the tent and turns to look back at the flap covering the insides of the tent. His mother hasn't caught up with him yet, he turns his head and starts to run when he bumps into someone. He lands hard on the ground and looks at the person he just bumped into innocently.

"Hey, hey champ," the man begins to say. "what are you doing out here so late in the night? Where are your parents?"

"I'm sorry I bumped into you sir," Henry says apologetically, his head down.

"It's ok." The man offers his hand to the young boy, who gives it to him. He helps Henry up and asks again, "Why are you out here so late? Where are your parents?"

Before Henry could answer, Regina comes barreling out of the tent, gasping for air as she spots her son a few inches from her.

"Henry, thank god," Regina exclaims, gasping for air. "I thought I'd lost you. _Never_ do that to me again young man. You could get lost! Understand me? Are you ok?"

Henry nods innocently at his mother while she checks his body for scratches. Regina doesn't take notice of the man standing a few inches away from her. Henry looks at his mother as soon as she's done checking him and says, "Sorry, mommy. I didn't mean to. Don't worry, this nice man bumped into me as I was running out of our tent. He saved me from getting lost."

Henry flashes a toothy smile at his mother, hoping it would help alleviate her anger towards him. Regina simply stares at her son, shakes her head and stands up.

"Thank you," Regina says as she raises her head to look at the man who could have possibly saved her son from being lost in this camp site. "I don't know what I – "

Regina freezes and stares at the man who saved her son's life. She stands there, mouth agape, unable to form words as she takes in the image of the man she has come face to face with.

"Robin…"

"Regina…"

* * *

 **A/N 2:** So this was longer than I expected. Let me know what you think! I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. I swear this is the last time I'll be having two author's notes in one chapter. Also, the quidditch team and terms are real, read it from Quidditch through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp. The quidditch move labeled with * is a move that any quidditch player can perform. Done by hanging upside down off the broom, gripping tightly with hands and feet to avoid a bludger. Again all credits to Once Upon A Time and J.K. Rowling.


End file.
